Elliot Kelly admits he feels honoured and privileged to win the inaugural WSRA Rider of the Month award.
It has been a whirlwind few months for the 21-year-old who only returned to the sport in July after signing for local National Development League side Middlesbrough.
Now the Yarm-racer can look forward to one-to-one tuition with British legend Scott Nicholls and Paul Hurry at their Try Speedway training school.
“It came as a bit of a shock as I was on a night away with my partner and then all of a sudden, my phone started blowing up,” said Kelly. “I am honoured to be drawn as the winner of the first award.”
The first award was open to everyone who had ridden in the National Development League this year.
However, that will change for the August, September and October awards which will be restricted to those NDL riders who are members of the WSRA.
Elliot went on: “I saw on Facebook that they were doing the draw and I thought a youngster would win like one of the up-and-coming kids, but I couldn’t believe that I had won it so I am really looking forward to it – it’s an honour!
“It is going to be brilliant to work with riders who have that level of experience because that is what you learn from. You can be as fast as you like, but nine times out of ten experience will win the race.
“I have grown up watching Scotty (Nicholls) on the telly as a kid it will be a privilege to be with him. I remember him fighting Cardiff years ago and my mother has fancied him for a long time, she would always call him ‘Hotty Scotty’.”
Kelly says more riders should be looking to follow Nicholls example by helping the next generation of speedway stars.
He added: “I love learning and a few years ago we had the training days with the GB Academy where we had Rory Schlein and Jason Crump coaching us and the amount you can learn from experienced riders is unbelievable.
“It’s great that Scott is doing these training schools with riders and I think it’s something the professional riders should do more of because the hardest part for youngsters is money and bike time.
“Where I struggled as a kid was that I was only riding once a week whereas, lads I was coming up against were riding three or four times a week.”
In 2024, the youngster established his own business called Teesside Autos Ltd which meant his racing career took a back seat, but he remained a regular visitor to his local track in Redcar.
The North Yorkshireman has revealed how his younger brother inspired him to return to racing.
Kelly said: “Seb is racing now so I have been on the spanners for him a few times and I was in the garage helping him with his bike one night a few months back when I just looked at my bikes wondering if it would still run, so I took it along to Redcar when Seb was riding to have a spin out.
“I then booked on an amateur meeting at Scunthorpe. I had probably done one meeting in two and a half years before the amateurs at the Eddie Wright Raceway, but it felt like I hadn’t been away for that long.
“Now my business has settled down we haven’t got to worry about anything.”
Any rider wanting to join the WSRA should contact Graham Darling on 07737 440296 or ++graham.darling71@gmail.com++ to have the chance to win one of the draws in August, September or October which is only open to NDL WSRA members.
PHOTO: IAN CHARLES